The whirlwind that was March has earned Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin a honeymoon in Georgia.

The 29-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., captured the Valspar Championship on March 12 for his first career PGA Tour win. Hadwin got married less than two weeks later and Wednesday he and his wife, Jessica, closed on their new house.

But the couple isn’t jetting off to an exotic honeymoon destination. Instead, they’ll head to Augusta, Ga., where Hadwin will play in his first Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.

“She’s probably not as excited as I am,” Hadwin said Thursday during a conference call. “I think she would’ve rather been in Bora Bora right now.

“We’re both excited, it’s going to be a great week. A lot of fun and certainly we’re always going to remember the first one.”

Hadwin secured the Masters invite with the Valspar Championship victory, along with the US$1.134-million winner’s cheque. After earning $1.067 million last season, Hadwin has already amassed over $2.5 million in 2017.

He also carded a third-round 59 en route to a second-place finish at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January. Hadwin stands fifth in the FedEX Cup standings with 1,140 points and has four top-10 finishes in 11 events this year.

“I think I’m still figuring out what’s going on, I’m a little bit lost,” Hadwin said. “Certainly, all very good things happening, a lot of great things in life right now.

“But certainly it’s been quite a whirlwind last month.”

However, there’s nothing quite like preparing for a first-ever appearance at the Masters to provide much-needed focus and perspective.

“If I can’t get up and get ready for that I don’t know what event I’ll be able to do that for,” Hadwin said. “I think now everything is settled . . . and I can really start to focus my energy on next week.”

Hadwin plans to leave for Augusta on Sunday and has a practice round scheduled for Tuesday with PGA Tour veteran Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont. In ’03, Weir became the first – and only – Canadian to win golf’s most prestigious major.

“I haven’t started picking Mike’s brain yet,” Hadwin said. “I don’t want to wear him out before we actually play.”

Hadwin said his earliest Masters recollection was 1997 when at age 10 he watched Tiger Woods emphatically capture his first major. Woods, then 21, obliterated the field with an 18-under, 270 total for a commanding 12-stroke victory.

“This was Tiger in general for many, many years,” Hadwin said. “Just the way he, to not put it lightly, just destroyed the field.

“He made the game look so easy for a long time, it wasn’t just ’97.”

Hadwin said there’s a sense of pride that comes with qualifying for the Masters.

“The way I view it is to get into the Masters you’ve had to do something special,” he said. “You have to be a top-50 player in the world, have finished the previous year in the top-30 in the Fed Ex Cup or you have to win.

“So it has this winners only, great players only type feel to it. I’m not downplaying the other majors by any stretch . . . I think it (Masters) has just a little bit of a heightened prestige around it.”

And it’s a tournament Hadwin has won 1,000 times – in his head.

“I’ve made many a putt at sunset to win the Masters while practising,” he said. “But I’m not approaching it any differently than I have any tournament all year.

“I’m going there with confidence. I’ve had success against great fields. It’s just a matter of preparing the best I can and seeing where my game stacks up against the best players.”

Hadwin said he’ll have butterflies when he tees it up for real next week but expects it to be a good nervousness.

“I think a lot of that is nervous excitement,” he said. “My goal is to prepare well enough Sunday through Wednesday so when I stand at the tee Thursday I’m going, ‘OK, let’s win this tournament. I’m ready to go, I’ve got full confidence.’ ”

And that includes knowing when to play it smart.

“What’s made me successful this year is I stay aggressive but I’m very conservatively aggressive, if that makes sense,” he said. “When I feel comfortable with a shot, I’m aggressive and can play it.

“Otherwise, I just lay up and my wedges have been so good that I’ve got full confidence I can do either. That course can be scored on by doing both. I don’t set a gameplan at the start of the week saying I’m going to lay up on all par-5s or I’m going to do this in all the tee boxes. It’s strictly on a hole-by-hole, day-by-day basis.”

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — The members of the Canadian contingent at the ANA Inspiration got a little bit more time to prepare for the first major of the golf season than they would have liked.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont, ranked 13th in the world, Alena Sharp of Hamilton and Maude-Aimee Leblanc, a native of Sherbrooke, Que., all missed the cut at last week’s LPGA Tour stop, the Kia Classic in Carlsbad, Calif.

But they chose to look at the opportunity to arrive at Mission Hills Country Club a couple of days early as a bonus.

“Sometimes having a weekend off before a major is good because it is more taxing on the mind,” said Sharp, who finished a career best 41st on the LPGA money list in 2016. “As the week goes on it gets firmer, the rough gets longer, we’re going to deal with wind. It’s going to be a test of the fittest, for sure, not so much physical, but mental. 

“Not playing last weekend, maybe getting some rest it will help me for this week, but I feel like my game is in good shape. I love the golf course. I’ve always loved coming to play here. I love how the course is playing. I had some good practice rounds so I’m just ready to get going.”

Henderson arrived on Saturday and has played a few holes each day “so I have a great feel for the golf course. This is one of my favourite tournaments all year. You know, coming here as an amateur in 2014, I got to witness and experience an amazing atmosphere out here and Poppy’s Pond, Dinah Shore, it’s such an amazing tradition.

“I’m excited to go out and hopefully get off to a fast start Thursday and Friday and put myself into contention on Sunday.”

@BrookeHenderson tuning up for @ANAinspiration, golf’s first major of the year. Hammered this one through wind on 4th hole @MissionHillsCC1 pic.twitter.com/hTsY0IK4gL

— Chris Stevenson (@CJ_Stevenson) March 28, 2017

Henderson said driving the ball will be a key this week and that should give her an advantage.

“You’ve got to hit fairways and I think if I can get my driver out there a good distance, there’s a lot of corners and a lot of trouble you need to carry it 250, so if I can do that, I think I can take out a lot of the field that way,” she said. “The rough is very long, so hitting fairways and being consistent is also very important.

“The greens are always fast and firm out there, so making sure you’re hitting fairways and giving yourself a great angle for approach shots will be really important the next few days.”

Neither Henderson nor Sharp have had the results they would have liked so far in 2017. 

Henderson’s best finish was a tie for fourth at the HSBC Women’s Champions, her only top 10 finish in 2017. She’s 18th on the LPGA money list.

“So far into the year 2017 I have necessarily performed or gotten the results I necessarily want, but I feel my game is really close and hopefully if I can just tune up a little bit mentally and get focused on what I actually have to do, I think my game is right there that I can win a few more times and I think that starts this week,” she said. “Having played the golf course the last few days, I think it suits my game really well, so if I can get my mental attitude the way it should be, I think I’ll be right there on Sunday.”

Sharp, who enters the week 61st on the money list, said her scores haven’t reflected the quality of her play.

“I’ve been playing much better than I’ve been scoring,” said the 36-year-old. “It’s one of those things you have to be patient, keep trusting the process and stay positive.”

Leblanc, 28, had a tie for seventh at the ISPS Women’s Australian Open in February, her first top 10 on the LPGA Tour. The long hitter (sixth on Tour with an average of 270.75 yards) is 50th on the money list and, like Sharp, has been playing the best golf of her career over the last year.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (March 28, 2017) – The PGA TOUR has announced that it will begin testing the use of distance measuring devices during competition at select tournaments this year on the Web.com Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.

Each of the three Tours will allow use of the devices by players and caddies at four consecutive tournaments, including Monday qualifiers. For these events, the PGA TOUR will temporarily enact a Local Rule in accordance with Decision 14-3/0.5 of The R&A/USGA Rules of Golf, which stipulates the device can be used to measure distance only (use of functions to measure slope, elevation or wind will not be allowed).

The Web.com Tour tournaments are: the BMW Charity Pro Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation, May 15-21 in Greenville, S.C.; the Rex Hospital Open, May 29-June 4 in Raleigh, N.C.; the Rust-Oleum Championship, June 5-11 in Ivanhoe, Ill.; and the Air Capital Classic, June 12-18 in Wichita, Kan.

PGA TOUR Latinoamérica will do its testing at the last four tournaments of the schedule’s first segment: the Essential Costa Rica Classic, April 20-23; the Quito Open, June 1-4 in Ecuador; the Puerto Plata DR Open, June 8-11 in the Dominican Republic; and the Jamaica Classic, June 15-18.

The Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada will test at: the GolfBC Championship, June 15-18 in Kelowna, British Columbia; the Players Cup, July 6 – 9 in Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel, July 13 – 16 in Thunder Bay, Ontario; and the Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval, July 20 – 23 in Mirabel, Quebec.

“For years there has been significant discussion and debate about whether distance measuring devices would have a positive or negative impact on competition at the highest levels of professional golf,” said Andy Pazder, Chief Tournaments and Competitions Officer of the PGA TOUR. “The only way we can accurately assess their impact is to conduct an actual test during official competition on one or more of our Tours. We look forward to seeing how these tests go and carefully evaluating the use of the devices over those weeks. Our evaluation will consider the impact on pace of play, optics and any other effects they might have on the competition.”

Once the test and comprehensive evaluation is completed, the PGA TOUR will share the results with its Player Advisory Council on all of its Tours for additional review and discussion.

TORONTO – Golf Canada, along with leading fan engagement company Stadium Digital, today announced the re-launch of golfcanada.ca.

The new platform introduces the roll out of a responsive national website network across Canada’s provincial golf associations, beginning with albertagolf.org. The digital home for the national sport federation is the go-to destination for millions of Canadian golfers and 1,400-member golf clubs across the country.

Developed and powered by Canadian sports technology leader, Stadium Digital, the bilingual platform features a dynamic new content hub to share Canadian golf news, information and highlights of Golf Canada’s slate of championships, programs and services for golfers and member clubs. The sites also feature original content to showcase the next generation of Canadian rising stars as well as informative articles for golf enthusiasts from coast to coast.

“The launch of our new bilingual digital network is an important evolution in golfer engagement for Golf Canada and our provincial associations, allowing us to go well beyond our previous capabilities,” said Golf Canada Interim CEO Jeff Thompson. “Stadium Digital’s network infrastructure platform gives us the much-needed scale so we can connect with our golfers, fans, partners and sponsors in a much more meaningful way.”

The digital network development was supported in part by a grant through the Canadian Olympic Committee’s (COC) National Sport Federation (NSF) Enhancement Fund. The program was devised to assist NSFs in the creation of efficiencies and enhancements that could benefit other sport federations.

“We are thrilled to see Golf Canada develop this innovative digital network to engage with golf enthusiasts across Canada,” says Chris Overholt, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee. “The insights learned through this initiative can now be shared with other national sport federations who look to build their own platforms. This is a great example of how sport organizations can work to strengthen the system as a whole.”

The infrastructure, hosted on the Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform, allows for a streamlined interface for users across devices. While all Golf Canada digital content lives on a single network managed by Stadium Digital, the infrastructure allows provincial golf associations to customize the look of their sites and develop their own unique content and sponsorship opportunities to serve local golfers and clubs.

Highlights of the new digital network include:

• New content hub & video player with full integration of on-demand video
• Standardized look for teams & championships
• Content sharing across all provincial golf associations
• Improved member & golf club services
• New national & local sponsorship opportunities
• Bilingual engagement
• Improved discovery of original content – video, photos & stories
• Enhanced navigation capabilities

“This is an exciting new era for golf in Canada with so many dynamic young players and a growing number of members and marquee events,” said Mark Silver, President of Stadium Digital. “It has been wonderful working with the team at Golf Canada and the provincial golf associations to develop a new platform and content hub to serve golf lovers and fuel Canada’s passion for golf for years to come.”

Stadium Digital has confirmed that work is already underway to build other Canadian provincial golf associations into the platform and that they are ultimately planning to extend the model to other national sports associations.

AVONDALE, La. – PGA Tour star Jason Day expects to arrive in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday to start practicing for the Masters, but said he could pull still out of the season’s first major, depending on his mother’s prognosis following surgery for lung cancer last week.

“Obviously, I’m still nervous because we’re still waiting to see … if it has spread or not,” said Day, who spoke Monday on a video conference set up by organizers of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic in late April. “From there, we have to kind of come up with a game plan whether to go chemo – a form of chemo radiation – or something else.

“It’s still kind of a bit of an emotional time for me,” added Day, whose father, Alvin, died of cancer when he was 12. “Obviously, I’ve been hanging out with my mom a bit and seeing her and she’s recovering well. She’s a tough lady, but it’s hard because I look at her and she’s on the pain killers and all that stuff, what she needs to do to recover … but I can’t help but think of my dad when I see her in that situation.”

The world’s third-ranked golfer revealed that his mother, Dening, has cancer after withdrawing from the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, last Wednesday. Day has said the initial diagnosis came in Australia at the beginning of this year and that she had scheduled surgery in Columbus, Ohio, late last week.

Day said Monday that doctors deemed the surgery successful, and now the family awaits results of tests to see if cancer is present in Dening Day’s lymph nodes.

“My mom told me not to worry about it,” Day said. “It’s hard to do that. It’s easy to say … but it’s really, really difficult. So currently I’m scheduled to play Augusta … but if things don’t come back the way we want them, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Day said he “hasn’t touched a golf club at all” in the days since joining his joining his mother in Ohio last week.

“It’s very, very difficult to even think about playing golf when a loved one is going through such a traumatic experience,” Day said. “Once I get past this initial stage, hopefully I’ll find some balance and I’ll be able to kind of move on and really focus on getting my game back.

“Unfortunately, I’m human. I like to feel like I’m always on it, I’m always … ready to go and trying to compete and I want to get back to that stage, but sometimes it’s very, very difficult.”

Day also is scheduled to participate in the Zurich Classic, which runs from April 27-30 and has changed to an unusual format featuring 80 two-player teams, with player picking their own partners. Teams will alternate shots in the first and third rounds and play best ball in the second and final rounds.

Day joked that he was enthusiastic about the new format as soon as Rickie Fowler agreed to be his teammate. He added that, as much as he respects tradition, golf needs to do a better job capturing younger viewers.

“Golf is kind of in a limbo stage right now. We’ve got to somehow be able to keep it traditional but also add some format play that makes it interesting and makes people want to watch the PGA Tour on a regular basis,” Day said. “This is kind of the first step in a direction that potentially could change the way we look at traditional stroke-play events.”

The pairing of Day and Fowler will make them favourites at the par-72 TPC Louisiana outside New Orleans. Other teams of note include Justin Rose with Henrik Stenson; Branden Grace with fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen; Bubba Watson with J.B. Holmes; Justin Thomas with Bud Cauley, who both played golf for Alabama; and Jason Dufner and Patton Kizzire, who played for Auburn.

Defending Zurich Classic champion Brian Stuard is paired with Chris Stroud.

The last time a PGA Tour event featured team play was the 1981 Disney Classic.

BEAUMONT, CALIFORNIA, March 26, 2017 – Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador) holed out for eagle on the 13th and drained birdie on 18 to win the IOA Championship by three shots with a final-round 5-under, 67 on Sunday. She finished with a three-day total of 12-under, 204, the lowest winning score in the three years at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon.

Darquea’s victory is historic as she becomes the first player in the history of the Symetra Tour or the LPGA from Ecuador to win. 

“It’s such a special feeling knowing that kids in Ecuador can look up to someone and say ‘I can play golf and be successful’,” explained an emotional Darquea. “Golf is not a very popular sport in Ecuador so this is so special and really important to me.”

Darquea nets a first-place check of $15,000 and moves to second on the new Volvik Race for the Card 

money list. Olivia Jordan-Higgins, who withdrew from the IOA Championship, remains in the top spot. Darquea has earned a total of $16,783 through two weeks. 

Darquea, who entered the day in a share of the lead, made the turn at 2-under for the day and had a share of the lead early on the back nine. On the 13th hole, she holed out for eagle from 130 yards out in the fairway to grab a two shot lead. 

“It is one of the toughest holes on the course and I was in the fairway and hit my 9-iron and the ball bounced on the front edge of the green and the second bounce hit the pin and went in,” explained Darquea. “I couldn’t see from where I was, but everyone on the green started screaming so it was really cool.”

Darquea made four straight pars and then stuck her approach on 18 to five feet and put an exclamation on the win with a birdie. 

“I was nervous and my hands were shaking, but that is pretty much why I play golf,” said Darquea about the last putt. “Thank god the ball went in.”

Darquea earned partial LPGA status through Qualifying Tournament by finishing T29. She actually won Stage I of Q-School in the area at the Dinah Shore Courses in Rancho Mirage. She isn’t sure how many LPGA events she will play, but is thoroughly enjoying her time on the Symetra Tour.

“I didn’t really expect to win this quick,” said Darquea, who finished T17 at the season opener. “I just love to play golf and compete and I’m super about this.”

Benyapa Niphatsophon (Bangkok, Thailand) and Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Anne-Catherine Tanguay (Quebec, Canada) shared second place at 9-under, 207. 

The Tour heads to Mesa, Arizona next week for the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club. The event runs Thursday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1. 

8-YEAR LPGA VET AND FORMER GRADUATE NEARLY COMES FROM BEHIND: Alison Walshe (Westford, Mass.) graduated from the Symetra Tour to the LPGA in 2009 and has been on the big tour for the last eight years. She struggled last year and plans to play some Symetra Tour to supplement the LPGA events she’s able to get in.

On Sunday, she put together a blistering 6-under, 66 to move from T19 to a tie for fourth. She actually moved into the lead midday through the day. 

“The first few days, I was grinding it out because of my driving, I was really slicing it,” explained Walshe, who carded a 70-72 on the first two days. “I called my coach and a few people and I was like ‘any thought will help right now’ and I was able to sort it out and play more aggressive today.”

The perfect example came on the par-5 fourth. She sliced the ball in the bunker off the tee on Saturday and made bogey. On Sunday, she was on in two and made eagle. 

“I hit my driver well and was able to reach the green in two today and was about 12-15 feet,” said Walshe. “I made a good putt there and that was big.”

Walshe has five career top 10 finishes on the LPGA Tour. She isn’t 100 percent sure how her schedule will align this year. She will play next week on the Symetra Tour at the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club. 

“I came into the beginning of the year trying to go to a couple Mondays (Monday Qualifiers) and see what my little bit of status will get me in (on the LPGA),” said Walshe. “I’m going to kind of go by feel. The last few years, I’ve kind of just played in everything and I kind of got sick of it and that is why I didn’t play well.”

Walshe recorded seven top 10 finishes in 2009 on the Symetra Tour.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Mirim Lee took the lead into the final round of the Kia Classic two years ago and was overhauled by Cristie Kerr, who won with a tournament record of 20-under.

Lee had the 54-hole lead again this year, and she wasn’t about to let anyone catch her.

Lee, of South Korea, shot a 7-under 65 to win by six strokes Sunday and tie Kerr’s tournament record.

It was her third LPGA Tour victory and first since winning two titles in 2014, her rookie year.

She played a bogey-free round at Aviara, with birdies on each of the odd-numbered holes on the front nine to reach 18-under.

Lee twice just missed putts that would have put her at 21-under. She left an eagle putt short on 16 and then rolled a 40-foot birdie putt even with the hole on 18.

She was so far ahead, she wasn’t tempted to think about the lead she lost in 2015.

“I just thought I didn’t play very well at that time. Today, I tried not to think about it,” she said.

Lee was doused with water by fellow South Koreans Mi Jung Hur and In Gee Chun.

“Only the winner can enjoy the moment so it was very special,” said Lee, who came into the final hole with a one-shot lead over Hur.

If Lee wins the season’s first major next weekend, the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, she can get another wet celebration – by jumping into Poppie’s Pond.

Ryu (66) and Austin Ernst (67) of Greenville, South Carolina, tied for second at 14-under.

Kerr (70) was in a group of five at 12-under. Calgary’s Jennifer Ha (69) tied for 49th at 2 under.

Lee “was at 20-under. I knew at that point you’re basically playing for second place unless she does something coming down the stretch,” Ernst said. “I think Mirim had a good lead all day. She played really good golf. Your entire game needs to be solid here.”

Said Ryu: “It’s really great to see Korean players keep playing well. Also, I always feel very proud to see many Korean companies sponsoring the LPGA tournament. We just have a kind of like responsibility to play well on the LPGA. Hopefully a lot of fans are having a lot fun to watch her play. Yeah, if another Korean girl is going to win the tournament, hopefully next one is going to be me.”

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – D.A. Points was never better at the start, and good enough at the end.

Points opened the final round of the Puerto Rico Open with five straight birdies, and then overcame a rugged stretch by saving pars and piling up enough birdies for a 6-under 66 on Sunday and a two-shot victory.

It was the third PGA Tour victory of his career, and felt just as sweet as when he won at Pebble Beach with Bill Murray as his partner, and four years ago at the Houston Open to get to the Masters.

This won’t send him to Augusta National because it was played opposite a World Golf Championship. It was no less important for Points, who lost his card a year ago and now has a full two-year exemption.

“I was just really proud of myself for finding some way – hitting about as low as I’ve ever been golf-wise and finding my out – and then to be able to hang in there and win today is something that I wasn’t sure if I had in me,” he said. “And I’m really proud of myself.”

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (64), Bill Lunde (68) and former U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau (67) tied for second at Coco Beach Golf and Country Club.

Sam Saunders, one week after missing the cut at the first Arnold Palmer Invitational without his grandfather there as the host, closed with a 65 and tied for fifth. Also tying for fifth was former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein, who plays the European Tour and was in Puerto Rico on a sponsor’s exemption.

That sends both of them to the Houston Open next week for finishing in the top 10. Six others in the top 10 were eligible for the Houston Open, where the winner gets an invitation to the Masters.

Chris Stroud, with his first 54-hole lead as he tried to win his first PGA Tour event in 277 starts, closed with a 71 and finished four shots behind. David Hearn (68) of Brantford, Ont., tied for 17th at 14 under and Ottawa’s Brad Fritsch (67) tied for 44th at 9 under.

Points closed with a birdie to finish at 20-under 268.

“I’ve never, that I can think of, just started out with five straight birdies,” Points said. “It was just like, ‘Wow!’ I just hit in the fairway and I hit it right at the flag and tapped it in. It was pretty fun.”

And then it became a grind.

He dropped a shot at the sixth, another at the eighth and then a third bogey at No. 10 when he three-putted. But he saved par at No. 11 and faced another 5-footer for par at No. 12.

“I said, ‘If I can just make this putt, I’ve got a chance to kind of get the momentum going back the other way.’ And then I holed a nice putt on 13 and then I settled my swing down and started hitting it close again,” he said. “Golf is like that, right? You have highs and lows and rarely do you just play every hole perfect. To bounce back after kind of a rough stretch there, I’m really proud.”

Even though the victory doesn’t get him into the Masters, Points will be at The Players Championship in May and the PGA Championship in August, along with access to smaller fields like Colonial and the Memorial. And he starts out next year on Maui at the Tournament of Champions.

AUSTIN, Texas – Dustin Johnson won the Dell Technologies Match Play with more drama than he needed to cap off an otherwise dominant week that made him the first player to sweep the four World GolfChampionships.

The scorecard will show Johnson never trailed in any of his seven matches over 112 holes, ending with a 1-up victory over Jon Rahm for his third straight victory that left no doubt who was No. 1 in the world.

The look of concern, especially as Rahm made a bold charge in the final hour Sunday, spoke to a long day.

Johnson was 4 up with six holes to play when the Spanish rookie with a big game and no fear hit driver over the water and onto the 13th green to win the hole with a birdie. He stuck a wedge close on the 15th for another birdie. Rahm hit a shot through the trees on the 16th and won the hole with a 30-foot birdie.

The rematch Rahm wanted against Johnson, who held him off in Mexico City three weeks ago, ended the same way.

His big rally was a little short.

Playing the 356-yard 18th hole for the first time in competition all week, and needing a birdie to send this heavyweight bout to overtime, Rahm smashed driver over the back of the green. But his chip down the slope checked up and stayed short of the ridge, and he had to settle for par.

Johnson came up just short of the green, chipped to 30 inches and rolled in it to complete another big week.

“That was a tough day, a long day,” Johnson said. “I’m proud of the way I played, the way I hung in there.”

None of his first five matches went longer than 16 holes until Sunday, when Johnson faced the first threat of the week. Hideto Tanihara caught him with two birdies on the back nine, and Johnson needed a pitching wedge to 6 feet on the short but troublesome par-3 17th to take the lead again. Then, he had to make an 8-foot par putt to beat Tanihara and avoid extra holes.

Rahm, who dispatched of Bill Haas in the semifinals, 3 and 2, wanted to face the hottest player in golf in the championship. And for the longest time, it looked as though the 22-year-old Spaniard regretted it.

Rahm gave away three straight holes by missing par putts from 6 feet and 8 feet, and missing a birdie putt from 4 feet. Johnson stretched his lead to 5 up with yet another bogey by Rahm, and it looked as though this match might be over early.

Not so fast.

Rahm, who already is No. 14 in the world in just his 15th tournament as a pro, began chipping away. Johnson three-putted the 10th hole for the third straight match, regained momentum with a two-putt birdie on the 12th hole – Rahm hit his tee shot downhill and downwind at 438 yards, Johnson at 424 yards – and then the Spaniard began his remarkable rally that came up short.

The result was another victory for Johnson, the 15th of his career, and makes him the clear-cut favourite at the Masters in two weeks. The next stop is the Houston Open, where another victory would make him the first player since Tiger Woods in 2008 to win four straight tournaments.

? That’s a winner ?

Dustin Johnson defeats Jon Rahm 1UP to win the @DellMatchPlay for his third consecutive victory. pic.twitter.com/at1GgFeqkA

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 26, 2017

Johnson became just the second player in the 19-year history of this event to never trail the entire week. Luke Donald did it in 2001, but that was before round-robin play and so Donald played only six 18-hole matches that week.

Not only did Johnson never trail, he led in 94 per cent of the holes he played. Donald was ahead in 91 per cent of his matches.

Johnson previously won the Mexico Championship earlier this month (and Cadillac Championship at Doral in 2015), the HSBC Champions in Shanghai in 2013 and the Bridgestone Invitational last summer at Firestone.

That gives him five World Golf Championships, well short of the 18 that Woods won. Woods only played the HSBC Champions twice after it became a WGC event in 2009.

AUSTIN, Texas – Dustin Johnson finally held up his end of the bargain Sunday morning, setting up a powerful title bout in the Dell Technologies Match Play against Jon Rahm.

Johnson was forced beyond the 16th hole for the first time all week in an error-filled finish against Hideto Tanihara of Japan, and the world’s No. 1 played didn’t escape until he holed an 8-foot par putt on the 18th to preserve a 1-up victory.

Johnson headed to the championship match Sunday afternoon with a chance to become the first player to sweep the four World Golf Championships.

In his way was Rahm, the rising star from Spain who faced a tough semifinal of his own against Bill Haas before pulling away with three birdies over his last four holes for a 3-and-2 victory. Rahm has yet to play the 18th hole at Austin Country Club in competition.

Even as Johnson was locked in an unexpected battle with Tanihara, the 22-year-old Spanish rookie said he was hopeful to see Johnson in the final for what he referred to as a rematch from Mexico. Johnson won the Mexico Championship three weeks ago, but not before Rahm made a bold charge in the final round until two bogeys at the end.

A victory for Rahm would make him the youngest player to win a World Golf Championship and put him in the top 10 in the world.

Johnson hasn’t trailed in a match all week, and he has led after 89 of the 94 holes he has played.

But he finally looked beatable against Tanihara.

Johnson was 2 up at the turn when he three-putted the 10th for the second straight round. He looked as if he would lose the par-5 12th when he couldn’t reach the green from a fairway bunker and Tanihara had 18 feet for eagle. In a shocking swing, Tanihara ran it 6 feet by and three-putted for par, and Johnson pitched to 8 feet and won the hole with a birdie.

But it wasn’t a swing in momentum.

Tanihara hit two great shots, a flip wedge to a dangerous pin over the water on the 13th to 4 feet, and a long iron into the wind on the 14th to 6 feet, to win both holes and square the match. From there, Johnson appeared to be playing not to lose.

With Tanihara in trouble on the 15th, Johnson came up well short of the green with a wedge and missed a 5-foot par putt to win the hole. On the par-5 16th, Johnson missed an 8-foot birdie putt to win the hole. He finally regained the lead with a pitching wedge to 6 feet for birdie on the 17th. Even so, he made it tough on himself by leaving yet another wedge short on the 18th and having to save par for the victory.

Rahm had only trailed on one hole this week – the first he played – until Haas rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt on the third hole. Rahm used his power to make birdie on the fifth and sixth to take the lead, only for Haas to answer with a birdie on the seventh to square the match.

Haas had three straight birdie putts from the 15- to 20-foot range starting at No. 9 and couldn’t convert.

Rahm hit a bolder tee shot on the 13th that left him a short wedge that he hit to 10 feet for birdie and a 1-up lead. Haas squandered a great chance to halve the match when Rahm missed the 14th green long, hit a flop shot about 20 feet by and made bogey. From a swale short of the green, Haas chipped weakly to 15 feet and missed the putt to stay 1 down. Rahm took it from there.

Haas and Tanihara played a consolation match with $678,000 going to the winner and $545,000 for fourth place.